And thank you very much for letting us have another year to abuse you to the max.
Yes, that's what we keep doing, day in and day out, year after every year, we take for granted our country, our freedom, our homes and our very existence and malign the luxury of having a country to call our own, to belong, to give us an identity in a world ruled by nationalities and origins. We do not realize the magnitude of what we have, why not compare our lot with the Kashmiris who are fighting for freedom, with the Tibetans who have braved for their right to exist as they want to, why don't we see the pain and the anguish and the humiliation of an oppressed people and the significance of having rights. But, why am I wasting my breath? All this falls on deaf ears, we curse the people who literally fought for our freedom from the British under whom we were merely vassals and a conquered brown race who needed the hard governance of the superior whites for their own good. No, we read our history wrong, we still have the servile mentality of a ruled people, we are still in awe of the English and still nurse a kind of lingering gratitude in our cold hearts for them to have come all the way over the high seas to make us civil, to rule over us, to show us the light!
We haven't gotten over our "Angrez complex" in fact we have become more in debt to the English and now the new masters, the americans for being their for us, for bailing us out, for telling us how to live and be, and be forever gracious for them to slaps on our wrists and at times punish us (mind you, for our own good) when we make a mess of things as we have been doing for the past 65 odd years or so!
I want to know what exactly are we celebrating this 14th day of august? what are the jubilant flags flying and fluttering on every house and car and every traffic signal for? What are the national songs and very patriotic programs all dedicated to this blessed land of ours importing? Perhaps I'm dim witted, perhaps I'm slow, perhaps the obvious just fails to impress upon my mind - whatever the case may be - I am left speechless every years at this time, for the enthusiasm of my fellow citizens in enjoying and celebrating this day confounds me?
I want to know what exactly are we so happy about?
Is it the selfishness , corruption, self-serving, servile ways of our most corrupt and inept rulers that have lorded over us for umpteen years?
Is it the successive martial laws that have marred the country's history and have dealt a severe blow to democracy?
Is it the fact that we have no national health program, no national education, no welfare system in place, highest rate of birth and child mortality, highest rate of inflation, lack of potable water, or excessive shortage of power?
Or, perhaps, we are happy and over the moon this year thinking about the nuclear bombs that we have lined up? And the fact that just by thinking of those we feel fed, clothed, housed, and healthy not to mention safe and secure?
Oh! It must be the fact that we are now the most dangerous country to live in, and most people of the world are advised by their governments to delete us from their holiday plans?
Or, maybe, because we are housing and hosting and cajoling and cavorting with the American spy agency number 1? And most of our media men, our intelligensia is basically their spooks selling out their own country?
No, it must be opn account of the great sense of safety and security we feel in our homes and cities, we are so assured that come what may we will never ever be a victim of a bomb blast, or a riot or any police high- handedness and so on.
It could be because we are still unable to catch up with the reality of being in the 21st century, and are perpetually stuck, frozen and fossilized in the middle ages where feudal lords ruled vast principalities la Machiavelli' Prince style?
We could be elated because our Navy is impregnable and a force to reckon with? What is a 16 hour plus siege of a naval base by a few men? After all we have " sajeelay jawans defending us at all times - hmmm mm
It must be because our leaders endorse bombings on their own people to please the gora masters.
Or is it because in a country that has a ban on alcohol, most people are drunks and alcoholics and you can get any bottle of any brand when and where you want it!
Or is it perhaps the fact that every other person has been car jacked. Mugged, and attacked one way or the other?
The list is eternal and the pain of penning them down infernal, but I know for a fact what I am celebrating this independence day. The sen tending of death and life - imprisonment to the ranger personnel for gunning down shehzad in Karachi!
Yes, that's what we keep doing, day in and day out, year after every year, we take for granted our country, our freedom, our homes and our very existence and malign the luxury of having a country to call our own, to belong, to give us an identity in a world ruled by nationalities and origins. We do not realize the magnitude of what we have, why not compare our lot with the Kashmiris who are fighting for freedom, with the Tibetans who have braved for their right to exist as they want to, why don't we see the pain and the anguish and the humiliation of an oppressed people and the significance of having rights. But, why am I wasting my breath? All this falls on deaf ears, we curse the people who literally fought for our freedom from the British under whom we were merely vassals and a conquered brown race who needed the hard governance of the superior whites for their own good. No, we read our history wrong, we still have the servile mentality of a ruled people, we are still in awe of the English and still nurse a kind of lingering gratitude in our cold hearts for them to have come all the way over the high seas to make us civil, to rule over us, to show us the light!
We haven't gotten over our "Angrez complex" in fact we have become more in debt to the English and now the new masters, the americans for being their for us, for bailing us out, for telling us how to live and be, and be forever gracious for them to slaps on our wrists and at times punish us (mind you, for our own good) when we make a mess of things as we have been doing for the past 65 odd years or so!
I want to know what exactly are we celebrating this 14th day of august? what are the jubilant flags flying and fluttering on every house and car and every traffic signal for? What are the national songs and very patriotic programs all dedicated to this blessed land of ours importing? Perhaps I'm dim witted, perhaps I'm slow, perhaps the obvious just fails to impress upon my mind - whatever the case may be - I am left speechless every years at this time, for the enthusiasm of my fellow citizens in enjoying and celebrating this day confounds me?
I want to know what exactly are we so happy about?
Is it the selfishness , corruption, self-serving, servile ways of our most corrupt and inept rulers that have lorded over us for umpteen years?
Is it the successive martial laws that have marred the country's history and have dealt a severe blow to democracy?
Is it the fact that we have no national health program, no national education, no welfare system in place, highest rate of birth and child mortality, highest rate of inflation, lack of potable water, or excessive shortage of power?
Or, perhaps, we are happy and over the moon this year thinking about the nuclear bombs that we have lined up? And the fact that just by thinking of those we feel fed, clothed, housed, and healthy not to mention safe and secure?
Oh! It must be the fact that we are now the most dangerous country to live in, and most people of the world are advised by their governments to delete us from their holiday plans?
Or, maybe, because we are housing and hosting and cajoling and cavorting with the American spy agency number 1? And most of our media men, our intelligensia is basically their spooks selling out their own country?
No, it must be opn account of the great sense of safety and security we feel in our homes and cities, we are so assured that come what may we will never ever be a victim of a bomb blast, or a riot or any police high- handedness and so on.
It could be because we are still unable to catch up with the reality of being in the 21st century, and are perpetually stuck, frozen and fossilized in the middle ages where feudal lords ruled vast principalities la Machiavelli' Prince style?
We could be elated because our Navy is impregnable and a force to reckon with? What is a 16 hour plus siege of a naval base by a few men? After all we have " sajeelay jawans defending us at all times - hmmm mm
It must be because our leaders endorse bombings on their own people to please the gora masters.
Or is it because in a country that has a ban on alcohol, most people are drunks and alcoholics and you can get any bottle of any brand when and where you want it!
Or is it perhaps the fact that every other person has been car jacked. Mugged, and attacked one way or the other?
The list is eternal and the pain of penning them down infernal, but I know for a fact what I am celebrating this independence day. The sen tending of death and life - imprisonment to the ranger personnel for gunning down shehzad in Karachi!
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